Jump Then Fall
by AprilMeeha
Summary: Bella has had a crush on Edward for as long as she has known him. Every time she starts to convince herself that she is getting over him, he shows up again. What happens when Edward becomes her boss? M for language and future lemons. All human


**Chapter One**

**Untouchable**

_10 years ago, Forks High School..._

Bella Swan sat at her regular lunch table, and Alice Brandon was going on and on about something to do with shopping. Bella nodded every now and then, but her attention wasn't on her best friend. Her eyes rarely moved away from Edward Cullen at his table. He was laughing at something Mike Newton, his best friend, was saying. Alice was accustomed to this, though, and didn't pay any attention. Bella didn't like shopping much, so when they had plans to go to the mall after school, Alice used Bella's blank wall of avoidance as a way to plan out their trip. Bella never had a choice in where they went, so Alice never worried about her lack of responses. It was literally just a way for her to talk about the plan out loud, and make sure things worked on her schedule without interruptions.

Plus, Alice knew that every lunch period, all Bella did was stare at Edward. She had been in love with him ever since he had bumped into her freshman year. He had apologized, and given her a quick smile before rushing off to catch up with his friend Emmett McCarty, who had stolen his hystory text book. Bella had fallen for that smile the instant he had sent it her way. Her mood swings through adolescense were directly related to the moods he was in. When he was happy, she was happy. If he was angry, she would want to attack whomever had upset him. The worst, Alice thought, was when Edward was sad about anything. If Edward Cullen was sad, Bella Swan's heart would break just seeing him so upset.

They were seniors now, and Alice was quite sick of her best friends pining for a guy she had never held a real conversation with. She constantly gave Bella a hard time for not doing anything about it. She even tried to spark conversations between them, but Bella would turn bright red and run as fast as possible whenever Edward was nearby. Bella's lack of self-confidence was another thing that annoyed Alice. No matter what she said, Bella would not listen when she was complimented. Even in junior year when Mike Newton - one of the hottest guys in school - had asked her out, Bella had thought it was a joke.

Alice had gotten to know Edward decently through the years, since they were both on the student government. In her opinion, Bella and Edward were perfect for each other. Bella was intelligent, stubborn, beautiful, and too kind for her own good. And Edward was also intelligent and stubborn, but he was very giving and one of the nicest guys she had ever met. They would be good for each other. But Edward never noticed her, and Bella was content to watch from afar.

It drove Alice crazy.

Finally, Alice had convinced Bella to go to a party this weekend, and that was what this shopping trip was about. It was the last party of their senior year of high school. The next parties that would be planned would be graduation parties - which Bella and Alice had each recieved several invitations to, though Bella seemed to be only considering going to one her friend Angela's parents were throwing. It was going to be small, and Bella was certain to be home before 10 pm. So, Alice was still trying to convince her to go to at least one of the other parties. The main one being, of course, Edward Cullen's graduation party.

Either way, tonight's shopping trip was all about the upcoming party. Alice fully intended to make sure she and Bella were looking good for it. So, the first stop they made was Old Navy - Alice's favorite store. Bella was quite indifferent to brand names, her store of choice being Wal*Mart. She knew Alice was planning to doll her up, and was determined to keep from thinking about it.

Bella was able to keep Alice from going nuts, though, and they walked out of Old Navy with a top that Alice claimed to be perfect for Bella to wear to the party. And Bella was a little surprised to find that she did not hate it. It was just a simple black babydoll tank top. Alice had paired it with some skinny jeans, and now they were on their way to find shoes.

As the pair was walking to Alice's choice shoe store in the Port Angeles mall, they had just rounded the last turn, when Bella froze. Alice followed her line of sight, and saw Bella was looking right at the shoe store. Well, more precisely, Bella was staring at the entrance to the shoe store. Where Edward Cullen was standing, talking to Mike. She couldn't see them, but Alice would have put money on Jessica and Tanya being inside the store.

"Are we not going there now, then?" Alice asked with a sigh.

Bella didn't respond, and the shorter girl glanced at her friend. Bella's face was already turning red, so Alice grabbed her arm and they turned around. In their haste to leave, they ran into someone else.

"Sorry!" Bella yelped as she steadied herself.

"My fault, I wasn't watching where I was going." Bella recognized the voice instantly, and glanced up into the face of Emmett McCarty. Edward's other best friend. Emmett continued talking, not noticing the redness of Bella's face. "Hey Brandon! Whats up?" He was smiling at Alice.

"Hey Em." Alice smiled back. Along with getting to know Edward, she had met a few of his cronies. "We were just shopping for something to wear to Jessica's party this weekend."

"Oh, you're going? Cool." He said, then glanced past the two girls and nodded at someone.

"Yea. I hope Mike doesn't get completely trashed at this one." Alice said with a laugh, and Emmett joined in.

"McCarty, its about time you showed up." A voice came from behind Bella, and she froze.

"Hey, I told you and Cullen that I would be late." Emmett gave the two boys, who were now standing behind the girls, high fives. Bella's head was turned just enough that she could see Edward right behind Alice.

"Still, man, the girls had us going into all their stupid stores. I mean, who needs so many shirts?" Mike kept talking, but neither Bella or Alice were paying attention.

Bella was still tense, her face flushed a bright red. And Alice was watching her friend, trying to come up with a way to get her out of this situation. As much as Alice complained that Bella never tried to do anything about her crush on Edward, Alice knew she was horribly shy. She hated when Bella got like this.

"They are looking at shoes now. I didn't realize that girls have the have flips flops in every color possible." Edward laughed, and at the sound of his voice, Bella seemed to become even more tense, if possible. Her hands were shaking. "You coming to the party this weekend, Alice?"

"Yea, that is why we are here today. Have to get the right outfit!" She smiled at Edward, then eyed Bella warily now, wondering if they were actually going to the party or not anymore. Edward followed her gaze, confused.

"Hi, I don't think we have met." He said, smiling at Bella, who had moved her head to the side to look at Alice. "I am Edward." Alice disguised a laugh as a cough, and turned to talk to Emmett again.

Bella glanced up into Edward's green eyes. "Bella." She squeaked out.

"Well, Bella, any friend of Alice's, is a friend of mine." He smiled at her.

Bella tried to smile back, but felt her face burning. She closed her eyes, and took a step away from him.

"I have t-to go... s-sorry..." Was all she said before bolting for the bathroom that she knew was a couple stores away.

She heard Alice rush to say goodbye to the guys, but she didn't get to hear if she had given any excuse for Bella's flight. She ran straight into one of the stalls, and locked herself into it.

"Bella!" The bathroom door banged open. "Bella? Where are you?"

Bella could hear Alice pushing open the stalls. When she got to the locked one, she paused.

"Bella? Are you OK?"

Bella sighed, then leaned forward and unlocked the stall. Alice slid inside, then shut the door behind herself. They stood there for a few moments in silence. Bella picking at her fingers, and Alice watching her. Bella let out a little laugh.

"I am _so_ freaking pathetic it is not funny." She said with another sigh, then ran her fingers through her hair.

"You are not pathetic, sweetie." Alice soothed. "You are a girl with a crazy crush on a boy. News flash, it happens all over the world."

"Alice, I can't even have a conversation with him! He was _right there_ talking to me! He actually noticed me, for once. And I blew it!" Bella wailed. "I am an intelligent person, damnit! I am an intelligent person who can't even think straight when _he_ is anywhere nearby! Thank God he hasn't been in any of my classes! Can you imagine what my GPA would be if he was in class with me?" She huffed to an end of her rant.

"Bella, sweetie, you are a beautiful, smart girl." Bella rolled her eyes, but Alice ignored her and kept going. "He has been an idiot to not notice you. You can't let him make you so nervous." Alice rubbed her arm.

"I just need to get over this stupid crush. Next year we are going to be going to different colleges, and I can't afford to be pining for someone thousands of miles away. Someone who doesn't even remember my name." Bella sighed, then gestured for Alice to open the door.

~*~

_Three years later, University of Washington..._

Bella was laying in bed, in her dorm room. She had tossed and turned for half the night, and now her blanket was knotted around her legs, exposing her blue underwear. The large 'Somebody went to Florida, and all I got was this shirt' t-shirt had ridden up to show the pale skin on her back, too. Her roommate, Stephanie, was in the shower. And Stephanie's boyfriend, Kyle, was laying on her bed, staring at Bella.

An alarm went off, and her arm reached out lazily and banged around on her bedside table for a moment, before finding the button to turn off the offending noise. Yawning, she stretched, and her head flipped over on the pillow. Her eyes were only half open as she noticed Kyle, still staring at her. After taking a minute to assess how much of her that he was seeing, she reached down and grabbed one of her shoes. She threw it at him and, missing the target she had placed on his forehead, hit his stomach.

"Perv." She said, disentangling herself and standing up. She walked over to grab her bathroom bag, and a change of clothes.

The bedroom door opened as she was grabbing her towel. Stephanie walked in with a silly little robe wrapped around herself.

"Morning Bella." She smiled.

"Morning." Bella grumbled. "Your boyfriend was watching me sleep again."

As the door shut behind Bella, she heard Stephanie yelling at Kyle, again.

All day, Bella was distracted. She was thinking about the presentation she was going to have to give in her Creative Writing class. She hated standing in front of rooms full of people to do anything, but she was fairly certain that she hated reading her own writing out loud the most. Since she was so distracted, she missed what her Theatre teacher gave for homework. Alice had roped her into taking a theatre class with her this year. It was their Junior year, and Bella had been able to avoid most of the courses Alice had wanted to take together, but she had been cornered into taking this one. Alice waited, like a good best friend, as Bella went to ask the teacher about the assignment.

When they finally left, Bella realized that she was probably going to be late for Creative Writing, and tried to make a fast get away. But, Alice pulled her back.

"Wait! Em is over there. We have to go see if anything is going on this weekend." Alice said, wrapping an arm around one of Bella's.

Bella allowed herself to be dragged over to the guy Alice had been pointing to. When they had first started at UW, Bella, Alice and Emmett had had a class together. At first, Bella had been nervous. It was one of _his_ friends, what if Edward had decided to visit. That would have thrown off all of Bella's carefully organized plans to get over him. But, Bella had been lucky. Not only had Edward not visited at all since they started their college careers, but Emmett turned out to be a great friend. He was one of those people who you fear from a far, because he is so muscular. But, up close, he was just a big teddy bear... usually. He loved playing practical jokes, which got annoying. More than anything else, though, Bella had a close bond with him. He was like the big brother she never had. To say he was over-protective of those he cared about was putting it mildly. When a guy had made Alice cry freshman year, the two girls had literally had to hold Emmett back from kicking his ass whenever they saw him. Poor guy ran into Emmett alone once, and what happened wasn't pretty.

"Hey Bells, Al. Whats going on?" Emmett asked when they were close by.

"Alice is trying to make me late for class, just to find out if there are any parties this weekend." Bella said, rolling her eyes.

"That sounds about right." Emmett laughed.

"Well? Dish!" Alice said, bouncing on her feet - she loved a good party.

'"I heard about something going down at the Pike house. Apparently, one of their brothers from another chapter is transferring to UDubb. So, they are throwing some sort of Welcome party for him." Emmett said, gesturing at random behind himself.

The Pike house is the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. They are one of the biggest frats on campus, and actually one of the best ones. They do a lot to help good causes. They are a fraternity, though, so you can always trust them to throw a good party.

"Great. So we are going to a Pike party. Can I go to class now?" Bella asked.

Alice sighed, but let go of her arm. Bella said a quick goodbye to the two of them and took off for her class. Out of breath, but proud of herself for only tripping once on her run across campus, Bella paused outside the classroom door. She could hear the professor introducing someone, and wondered if maybe she was wrong about today being presentation day. Maybe they had a guest speaker instead. With new found confidence at that thought, she pulled the door open, and quickly slid into a seat in the back row. It felt weird for her to be so far away from her professor, but accepted that this was what happened when she was late to class.

"So, I want everyone to make him feel welcome." The professor was saying to the class at large, then she looked at who she had been introducing. "Today is a presentation day, so you can just sit back and enjoy what the others have poured their hearts and souls into."

So, it looked like it was a new student, not a guest speaker. Bella swore under her breath, she had been hoping for another day to get herself together before reading her poem. This assignment had been to write a poem about love. No matter how much Bella had tried to write something fluffy, something that would not expose the fact that when she thought of love, her mind immediately had returned to Edward Cullen. She kept telling Alice that she was over him, and it was an easy lie to tell. Edward Cullen was off at some expensive school on the east coast, not walking by her every day. She hadn't blushed or stammered nearly as much since she started college as she used to in high school. So, after days of trying to write something that meant nothing to her, she had been up until 2:30 in the morning one night. She was exhausted, and just started writing. She thought that maybe she just needed to get the Edward poem out of her system, so she wrote it. And when she was done, she realized that no other poem she might write for this assignment would be worth it.

As the class continued, she reread her poem. She was terrified about how much this poem would expose her, but she was glad she didn't write anything fluffy. Almost everyone in the class had done that, and the professor did not look impressed.

"Bella Swan." The professor called out a few minutes later.

Bella grabbed her poem and walked to the podium at the front of the room. She stared at her feet as she walked, not wanting to trip and be embarassed before she even started reading. She had learned in Speech class in high school that you had to make eye contact before any speech. But, this wasn't speech class, and she wasn't about to make eye contact with anyone in this room before she read this poem. So, she began.

_"Silly girl_

_There's no need for crying_

_Wipe away your tears _

_And just move on._

_Silly girl_

_There's no use in trying_

_Remember all your fears_

_Try to move on._

_Silly girl_

_He doesn't feel the same_

_He loves another_

_So just move on._

_Silly girl_

_He doesn't know your name_

_He'll never be your lover_

_Just move on._

_Silly girl_

_You're still staring_

_Trying to remember his face_

_Please move on._

_Silly girl_

_Your hearts still tearing_

_You're a lost case_

_You can't move on."_

When she had finished the poem, the room was silent. She quickly grabbed her paper, and it took all she had in herself to not run back to her seat.

"Well, I hope everyone takes Bella's lead, and next time: write something worth writing." The professor said, and Bella blushed as she felt people turning to look at her.

For the rest of the class, Bella kept her nose pointed at her desk. She couldn't get over the fact that she had just admitted to a classroom full of people something that she had not admitted to her best friend. But, she _couldn't _admit it to Alice. If for no other reason than if Alice found out, Emmett would. And if Emmett did, there was no stopping Edward from finding out. So, as long as no one from this classroom talked to Alice, and Edward stayed on the East Coast, Bella was safe.

The professor finally dismissed everyone, and Bella took her time packing up. She felt someone standing next to her, and froze.

"I just wanted to say that that was a good poem. Better than any of the pointless fluff pieces that most of the people here wrote."

When he started talking, the power to do anything left her, even the ability to breathe. He was already walking away when her head snapped up. She would recognize the shade of his hair anywhere, just like she had recognized his voice. Edward Cullen was walking out of her Creative Writing class.

Bella barely held it together as she hurried back to her dorm room. Luckily, neither Stephanie or Kyle were there. She couldn't handle being around people right now. Normally, she would be having lunch with Alice and Emmett right now, but there was no way she could face either of them after seeing Edward. But, what the hell was he doing at UW? Was he visiting Emmett finally, and just decided to drop in on a class or two? It made no sense. She must of just _thought_ it was Edward. Didn't that one guy in her class have hair similar to Edwards? She had caught herself staring at it more than once.

She didn't have long to be alone before her cell phone started ringing. She knew it would be Alice wondering where she was. With a sigh, she dug through her bag and found the phone.

"Yes, Alice?"

"Oh, so your not dead or anything." Came the response.

"What on earth would make you think I died?" Bella laughed, quickly banishing the thoughts that had popped into her mind at the idea of Edward hearing that poem.

"Well, you haven't missed lunch with Emmett and I ever. I just figured something might have happened to you." Bella could hear that Alice was annoyed.

"I am fine, Alice. I just saw... I thought I saw a ghost after class. It freaked me out a little." That was the best way Bella could think to explain the appearance of Edward today.

"A ghost?!" Alice sounded excited now.

The two of them talked on the phone until Bella had to hang up to go to her only afternoon class that day. The rest of the week was pretty normal.

Bella didn't see any more ghosts of Edward Cullen around campus since Creative Writing on Wednesday. For the first time ever, she was happy she didn't have that class on Friday's.

After she and Alice were done with their classes on Friday, Alice dragged Bella to the mall to get something to wear to the Pike party. Bella had extended an offer to Stephanie to join them, but her roommate knew what it was like shopping with Alice, and had declined with a hearty laugh.

Sighing through the whole thing, Bella just let Alice play dress up with her. After two hours of walking and pulling on and off clothes, Bella collapsed into a chair at the food court while Alice grabbed them some food from Chick-fil-a. They chatted about their classes as they ate, and Bella was starting to really relax about thinking she saw Edward Cullen.

Just as they were grabbing all their things to leave, Bella heard a very familiar laugh and her head snapped up. She couldn't see him anywhere, but she would bet money on the fact that she had just heard Edward Cullen's laugh.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow at her best friend.

"I just heard…" She craned her neck, looking for the source of the quick burst of laughter.

Alice started looking around, too.

"Nevermind. It's nothing." Bella shook it off when she didn't see him anywhere.

Alice gave her a funny look, but continued picking up shopping bags while Bella threw away the trash from their food. Alice started talking about the outfits they had just bought and how they would do their hair and make-up for the party as the two of them walked outside to her car. The soft leather seats were something that always made Bella feel safe.

The two girls spent about 2 hours getting ready for the party Saturday. Alice was not allowing Bella to just enjoy the party. Instead, she had to be dressed to impress. Impress who, Bella had no clue, but whomever they were, they had better be happy.

It turned out that Emmett knew the guy transferring in, so they were meeting him there. It had briefly entered Bella's mind that Emmett knew Edward, and had not spoken to him in 3 years. That would be a good enough reason for Emmett to ditch them to catch up. But she quickly bannished that thought.

So, once Alice had announced that they were perfect, the two headed to Pike house. Bella felt a little self-concious the way Alice had dolled her up, but let her best friend have her way for one night. They were walking to the party, and by the time they reached the street Pike house was on, they could already hear it going strong. Bella looked at Alice with fear in her eyes when they saw the craziness of the party.

People were everywhere. Out front, there was some sort of make-shift breakdancing spot – someone had set up a few broken down cardboard boxes to make the dancefloor. There was a ring of people surrounding it as someone was doing some crazy moves. Moving inside, there were people grinding all over each other as some song with too much bass played loudly. The red plastic cups in everyones hands made it obvious that so many of them were already well on their ways to being drunk.

Through an open door to the backyard, the girls could see people swimming in a big pool, and even a sprinkler system going. Alice lead Bella though the living room/inside dance floor, though, and they found the kitchen easily – this was not their first Pike party.

"Bells! Alice! Guess what!" A very drunk Emmett was suddenly bounding towards the girls. He picked up a squeeling Bella, and swung her in a circle. After setting her back on her feet, and making sure she was steady – even drunk Emmett knew how accident prone she was – he gave Alice a bear hug.

"Whats up, Em?" Alice asked, laughing at him.

"You will never guess who the new guy is!" Emmett seemed like he was about to start bouncing like Alice had earlier, then turned around and looked for someone. "Get over here, dude!" He yelled once he had found them.

Bella tried to force the smile, that Emmett's antics had put on her face, to stay in place. On the inside, her world simultaneously crumbled and be built back up again. Crumble, because she knew she would not be able to hide her feelings towards Edward from Alice anymore. And, her world was built back up again, more solidly, once she saw his face again. He had not been some dream her teenage mind had created, he was real. And he was the new student at UW.

Edward Cullen was walking towards Emmett with a big grin on his face. Emmett wrapped an arm around his friends shoulders, pulling him forward. Alice squeeled and jumped forward to hug her old friend.

"Bella! Isn't it great that now…" Alice trailed off as she looked at her best friend.

Bella tried to think fast, she needed to act like she was over Edward. She needed to act like it was no big deal that he was here now.

"Yea." She said, her voice squeeking only a little bit. She forced the smile on her face to stay there.

"You must be Bella. Emmett told me about you." Edward smiled at her, extending his hand.

Taking his hand, Bella thought she might die. Luckily, Emmett was oblivious to the tension that was in air, as he and Edward quickly returned to whatever they had been doing when the girls walked in.

Bella took a shakey breath, and looked around the party. Looking everywhere except at Alice. She could feel her best friends eyes on her, but refused to return the look until she was certain her face would not reveal her secret.

Suddenly, though, she didn't have time to worry about what was going through Alice's mind. She was being pulled through the house until Alice found an empty room. It happened to be a very dirty bedroom, and Bella took her time cleaning a spot off on the bed to sit on. Alice stood there with her hands on her hips, waiting for Bella to stop avoiding looking at her.

"Bella…" She started slowly.

"What, Alice?" Bella's head snapped to look at her friend.

Alice just stared at her, waiting.

"OK, so my plan to get over Edward failed. It bombed. I am sorry that I didn't tell you that I am still pathetic." Her voice shook as she spoke.

Alice huffed, then sat on the bed next to her.

"You are not pathetic! I get it! Edward is hot, and he is a great guy. I just don't get why you didn't think you could trust me with this. I didn't like being excited to see an old friend, then looking at your face and realizing that his being here is hard on you."

"I never thought I would HAVE to tell you. By now, it didn't seem like he was ever going to visit you or Em, and what is the likelyhood that we would have ever seen him again? This is pretty fucking random, him transferring here." Bella said, playing with the hem on the shirt she had on, then gesturing towards the party going on.

"I don't like seeing you this sad." Alice said, rubbing Bella's shoulder lightly. "He is going to being hanging out with us… is that going to be weird for you?"

"I don't know." Bella sighed, wanting to keep things from becoming awkward for her friends. "I think… I think I am going to leave."

Alice nodded, understanding her best friend needed to think. "Call me tomorrow."

Bella nodded, then gave Alice a smile before quickly leaving.

_~*~ _

_Five years later… Seatle, Washington_

When Edward had shown up at UW, Bella had freaked out a little. She had taken a few days to herself, and when she had finally decided she needed to face her fears, because her friends should not have to suffer because she had a crush on a guy.

She only had to survive a handful of awkward study sessions and days spent leasurely hanging out with them all, when she had gotten the news from Charlie.

One of his closest friends, Harry Clearwater, had died. Bella then decided her father needed her more than Alice and Emmett, and had moved back home. Most of her credits at UW were able to be transferred to the local community college, and she took extra classes to make up the rest. She graduated the same time as her friends, and had kept in contact with Alice and Emmett.

When they had come home, Alice and Bella started looking for a place together, when Alice realized that she wanted to go back to school. She had chosen to major is Philosophy at UW, and that degree was not openning any doors she had an interest in.

She found The Art Institute of Seattle, and fell in love with the fashion marketing program. She had decided that she would live at home with her parents while she went there, so she would not have to worry about working full time, too, to pay rent.

Bella understood this, and was happy with her original decision to major in journalism. She had been able to secure a good job as Editor of the Seattle Weekly newspaper. She enjoyed that side of journalism more than the actual writing.

The job didn't pay a lot, but enough for her to be able to afford a one bedroom apartment. Emmett had majored in Education, and had found a job at a Seattle high school, as a gym teacher. He had hopes of becoming one of the coaches, too. He had also found an apartment not too far from Bella.

Monday through Friday, they were all pretty busy, but always found time on the weekends to devote to each other.

Bella had also been happy to hear that Edward was back East again. Like Alice, he had gotten his degree from UW, and decided he wanted to further it. She had no clue what he was interested in, but was glad to have the chance to get over him again.

It had been hard for her to do, even after she moved back home. Emmett had such a high opinion of Edward, and unlike Alice, did not know about Bella's crush on him. So, she had gotten updates on Edward's amazing-ness often from him.

Bella had been proud of herself over the last few years. She rarely ever thought of Edward anymore, and had even dated a few guys. She didn't go through them like Alice did, but it was good for her.

Once Alice had finished with the Art Institute, she had found a place of her own. The three of them rotated whose apartment they hung out at every weekend, keeping to a schedule Alice had planned out.

Everything seemed to be perfect for the three of them. Bella had never been happier, and she had recently been seeing this guy who she thought might just be the one to get her over Edward. Eric had gone to high school with them all, but Bella didn't know him back then because he had worked on the school news paper, and Alice would have freaked out if Bella would have even thought about hanging out with someone so 'uncool'. Now, she worked with him at Seattle Weekly, and he was really a nice guy.

Bella sat at her desk, proof reading an article before handing it in to her boss. Bella's boss, the Editor in Chief, was a very likable woman named Barbara. They got along great, and Bella was very happy she had chosen a small town newspaper to work for, instead of some cut-throat company.

A soft '_bing'_ from her computer pulled her from fixing a basic grammatical error, and she glanced at the messenger system that the paper had them all on. It was easier for everyone to communicate that way, not having to get up and walk to someone's desk, just sent them an instant message.

_**EYorkie: **__ Angel! Have you gotten to my article yet?_

She smiled, glancing at the nightmare article she had been reading. It was not Eric's, but she could not deny how similar to his articles it was.

_**BSwan: **__Not yet. Still working on Rose's__._

Christy was a total bitch, and not a good writer. She wrote an advice column, and Bella swore she would never, ever take advice from her. The only reason people liked her, and read the column was because she had a sexy picture at the top of it, and she didn't care who she pissed off.

_**EYorkie: **__ Well, can you try to make sure I don't get fired? Had a bit of an emergency the past couple days and just threw it together._

_**BSwan: **__ I will do my best. __J_

Bella smiled and went back to her reading. Eric hadn't called her all week, and she had been nervous about that. Now, though, she assumed that his emergency had kept him busy. Hopefully it was nothing serious. Another _'bing_' made her sigh as she realized it would take her longer now to finish Rose's article. She glanced at who it was from, and realized it was her boss.

_**BAndrews: **__Bells, I need to talk to you. Get in here._

Her brow scrunched up in confusion as she looked at the clock. She and Barbara usually got together around 1pm to go over the articles. It was not even 10. Locking her computer, she stood and walked over to Barbara's office door. She knocked quickly, then opened the door and went in.

"Hey B, what's up?" She asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"I have huge news, B." Barbara said, a grin threatening to split her face.

Bella laughed a little at her friend. The two had become calling each other 'B' a long time ago, the obvious reason being that both their names began with the letter.

"So… spill."

"I got a job offer." Barbara was practically bouncing in her seat now. "I couldn't turn it down."

"Oh." Bella was torn between being happy for her friend, and being sad that she was going to lose her. The two women sat in silence for a minute as Bella tried to decide which emotion was stronger. In the end, happiness won. "Oh B, I am so happy for you. Where is it at?"

"The New York Times!" Barbara almost screamed this.

"No way!" Bella jumped up. This was Barbara's dream. She always said her goal was to run one of those cut-throat newspapers that Bella hated.

"Yes way!" The two hugged and squealed like high school girls who just got invited to prom by the hottest guys in school before being able to talk again.

"When do you leave?" Bella asked, reality setting in. She only had her amazing boss for a limited time now.

"Six weeks. The owners have their eyes on a guy to take my place already – which _should_ hurt my feelings, but doesn't. He has actually been working on a news paper out east somewhere for a year or two now. They liked how he did things and are in the process of woo-ing him." She couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"I'm going to miss you so much, B!" Bella said, pulling her friend into another hug.

"I know, B. But we both knew this was going to come some day."

Time seemed to fly by after Bella got the news that Barbara was leaving. Six weeks soon turned into four, and it was announced that she was leaving. Four weeks turned into two, and it was then announced that the company had finally been able to rope the schmuck from out east into signing a contract. He was set to start three days before Barbara left.

Bella was bound and determined to hate this guy, whomever he was. No one could replace Barbara. The day before he was set to arrive, Bella found herself in one of the chairs in Barbara's office again.

"What is this guy's name?" She asked, playing with a tear in the arm of the chair.

"Uh…" Barbara's face scrunched up as she tried to remember. "Ed… Edwin? Edmund? Edward? I'm not sure, one of those. His last name is something like Coleman… Edwin Coleman? That sounds about right…" She shrugged it off.

Bella had tensed a little at the name Edward, but relaxed when Barbara had chosen one of the other names. The woman very rarely ever forgot a name, so if she was sure it wasn't an Edward, it was OK.

The next day, Bella was anxious to get to work early. She wanted to meet this new guy. No matter how much she had convinced herself that she would hate him, no matter what, she was excited about the fresh eyes and opinion for the paper. She wondered momentarily about what changes he might make as she got dressed.

By the time she made it into the office, he was already there. She heard two voices talking when she took a walk by Barbara's office. Too geared up to sit around waiting for them to leave the office, she made her way to the kitchen for a cup of tea. She found Eric when she got there.

"Hey, Angel." He said, giving her a smile.

She was in the middle of a conversation with Eric when she heard Barbara's voice moving towards them. She was giving the new guy a tour. As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Bella froze. She was suddenly very aware of Eric's arm around her shoulders, and quickly tried to move away from him. In her haste, though, she tripped over a chair, and her mug of tea went flying. It flew right onto Edward Cullen's shirt.

Bella froze, her mouth open in a large O shape. Barbara quickly grabbed paper towels for Edward to rub at his shirt with.

"See, I told you she was a total clutz." Barbara was saying, with a slight chuckle.

To Bella's shock, Edward laughed, too.

"I suppose this is my initiation." He chuckled, giving up on cleaning his shirt. "Nice to meet you, Bella." He said, holding his hand out to her.

Bella squeaked a greeting, and carefully set her hand in his. His head tilted to the sideways as he looked at her.

"Have we met before? You seem familiar."

"Alice and Emmett." She spoke softly, while nodding her head.

"Oh yea! You are the girl who had to leave just a week or two after I started at UDubb." Edward nodded now, understanding where he knew her from. "Emmett has told me so much about you."

Bella stuck around as long as she had to, bur made a run for it as soon as possible. And once the day was over, she bolted.

After sending a frantic text message to Alice, she locked herself in her apartment. She had no clue how she was going to keep from getting fired, now. Seeing as she would never be able to work with Edward being there. And how awkward was it going to be with Eric, now?

She pulled a bottle of tequila out of her cabinet and took a swig right from the bottle. It burned going down, which caused her face to smush up, while she took slow breath's through her teeth. There was enough time for her to take only a couple more swigs from the bottle before she heard the pounding on her door.

Slowly, Bella walked to the door, and opened it for Alice to come in.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked frantically.

Bella opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Emmett in the hallway. Cursing under her breath, she left the door open and went back to her bottle. Alice just watched as Bella took another swig from it.

"Party!" Emmett bellowed, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind himself. "What are we celebrating?"

Alice quickly shushed him. "Bella, what is going on?"

Bella took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say. She had done an amazing job over the years of not letting Emmett in on this secret, but it was time he knew. Just as she opened her mouth again, Emmett's cell phone rang. He pulled it from a pocket, and smiled as he answered it.

"What's up, man?" Alice glared at him as they waited for him to finish his conversation. "No way. I'm at her place now. Yea, you should come over, hang out with us. Apparently, there is some sort of celebration happening here."

Whomever Emmett was talking to was given the address, then he snapped the phone shut.

"Who did you just give my address to?" Bella demanded, not wanting company right now.

"Huh? Oh, that was just Edward." He shrugged.

Bella started to hyperventilate. Edward Cullen was coming over to her apartment. With a frantic glance around, she started cleaning.

"Edward, who?" Alice asked, confused.

"Didn't I tell you?" Emmett was getting excited now. "Cullen moved to town, he got a job for some newspaper. Hey Bells, what paper do you work for again?"

Realization settled onto Alice's face.

"The Seattle Weekly." Bella said, still cleaning.

She was washing dishes when there was another knock on the door. Emmett quickly went to answer it, while Bella grabbed her bottle of tequila and took another big gulp before putting it away. Her life had officially become hell.


End file.
